Has anyone taken note of the numerous wildlife die-offs that have been reported over the past few years? If you think that may be an “off-the-wall” exaggeration question or statement, well, there’s an online website that painstakingly chronicles what’s been going on, which I’d like to introduce to you.

Additionally, there have been 970 million butterflies – the exquisite Monarchs, in particular – that have been killed since 1990, apparently from pesticides and herbicides. Are GMO farming practices to blame?

We need to become better stewards of flora, fauna, and soil, I truly believe, and not poison everything with chemicals.

What will Planet Earth be like when it becomes devoid of marine, land, and avian wildlife? Think about that, especially as you begin the new gardening season for 2016 and any temptations to use toxic chemicals for gardening, pest control, or whatever.

If you want a nutrient-rich vegetable garden, you need healthy soil to grow nutritious crops. The more worms in your garden, the healthier the soil is [1], I feel. For many years, I used to purchase Lady Bugs and Praying Mantises at garden centers, and then let them loose in a few areas of my garden.

I always included plants that would attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Here’s a resource of plants to grow that invite those lovely visitors to your garden. These plants attract beautiful song birds, especially Gold Finches! They love to feast on Echinacea flower heads.

Do we really need all those lawn chemicals, chemical fertilizers and plant enhancements?

How about pest control chemicals? What about buzzing, stinging insects and the numerous pesticides to deal with them?

To help readers get out from under toxic garden chemicals, I’ve prepared a beginner’s list to point you in a more Earth-friendly direction, which I hope can start you on the path to chemical-free gardening. Mother Earth will appreciate that, and so will your pets and kiddies, too.

Personally, I’m exasperated with all of the above, who play havoc with my front and back patio gardens. What really works at keeping them out of the garden are two things: Dried Blood Meal and Dried Bone Meal.

I sprinkle both around the perimeter of the flower beds and then sprinkle a little in the center.

However, after a few days of rain, I need to reapply the blood meal, which keeps the deer off my hostas. I even sprinkle a little blood meal into the large patio planters and pots filled with plants. That keeps the squirrels from tearing plants out of their pots. Plus, both act as organic plant supplements too.

Want to become a beekeeper, even in the city? Here’s how to go about it. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a hotel restaurant has rooftop gardens, which include beehives [2] too!

We and the planet can’t afford to lose our food crop pollinators: the bees, butterflies, and bird populations, or other wildlife. Nothing pleases me more than to sit on my back patio and see the deer on the back common or either the red or gray fox saunter by. Wildlife is a gift from above, so is the Earth below our feet.

One of the great saints of Christianity, St. Francis of Assisi, composed an exquisite canticle to Nature—The Canticle of the Sun, [3] in which he refers to the varied features of Nature, e.g., sun, moon, stars, wind, air, etc., as his sisters and brothers. What a lovely way of thinking about Nature, especially when Nature is being assaulted on all sides by technology and chemicals.

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.